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William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy that follows the courtships and marriages of two sisters. Written sometime between 1590 and 1594, it was published in Shakespeare’s First Folio edition of works in 1623. The source of the main plot is unknown, although there are many ballads featuring the "taming" of shrewish (bad tempered or nagging) women. The plot involving Bianca and her many suitors comes from George Gascoigne’s comedy Supposes (1566), which is a translation of I suppositi (1509) by Ludovico Ariosto.